Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix Review

The first time I ever laid eyes on Mario Sunshine I thought, “Wow, there’s no way Mario could get more flamboyant than that…” I was so incredibly wrong.

DDR:MM contains many of the same trappings as previous DDR games. If you’ve played one, you’ve played them all, as ‘they’ say. The big and most obvious different with this one is of course the presentation and the story mode. DDR:MM features seven Mario game-based characters to dance as, with or against. It also features a plethora of Mario-based music with some public domain classical music mixed in as well. I never thought I would be playing DDR to a Mario song, and it feels weird to do so. Having Mario prancing about on screen as if he had been impaled by a giant rainbow and stuffed full of cotton candy and buttercups did not help to easy the uncomfortable feeling I had while dancing along.

Poor Waluigi. To date, this is the only Mario game that he has been placed front and center as the primary antagonist. If playing second fiddle to Wario isn’t bad enough, he has to act menacing in a DDR game? Geez. Next thing you know, he’ll be showing up as a villain in the next iteration of Nintendogs. The story mode in general is pretty thin, but really, it’s more than I expected. Anything more than ‘Pick song. Dance.’ Is more than I expected.

One thing I immediately noticed about this game in comparison to other DDR games is how easy it is. It might be a great starting place for people wanting to get into DDR if it weren’t so hard to find. As a result though, the hardcore DDR fans will find little to interest them here unless they just really want to dance to Mario songs.

Overall is it worth a recommendation? If you are into DDR or Mario then perhaps. Or you could always get a bunch of friends over and mock it. 

Speedy Gonzales: Los Gatos Banditos Review

Speedy Gonzales: Los Gatos Banditos for the Super Nintendo is an interesting experiment. They’ve basically taken the fast platforming of Sonic the Hedgehog and threw Speedy Gonzales, not one of the most popular Looney Tunes characters, in the midst of it. The level design isn’t as clean as Sonic so you will find yourself speeding along only to stop dead in your tracks to perform some awkward platforming. The enemies seem to be mostly bland and forgettable but the graphics are brightly colorful and crisp and suit the gameplay nicely.

The difficulty seems a little more gradual than many of the licensed games from this era, possibly still too steep for small children though. And given the tone and style of the game, this seems to be part of the audience they were trying to reach. I will definitely say it is much more suited for the younger age set that the frustratingly difficult Road Runner’s Death Valley Rally. Nevertheless, getting a competent platformer from a licensed title is a rarity in and of itself, so I think the game is worth a play or two.

A Whole Heapin' Helpin' of Video Game Reviews

Psychonauts (Xbox)

Tim Schaeffer never fails to amaze me. This guy has been responsible for some of the most humorous, innovative and just plain fun adventure games out there. Psychonauts is no different and fits so well within his body of work that it should come as no surprise that this game is highly creative and expertly designed.

The game is very story-driven with some of the most ingenious game mechanics I’ve seen in quite some time. Much of the early part of the game takes place in a camp to train future Psychonauts, people with extrasensory powers who are put through the ringer to render them capable of battling fiendish psychoses and mind-boggling (quite literally) nemeses. You play as Raz, a wannabe Psychonaut, who sneaks into the camp against his parents’ wishes in order to fulfill his destiny of mastering his psychic abilities. You then get pulled into a sinister plot involving a deranged doctor who wants to steal the psychic cadets’ brains to power a crazy super tank. You of course must rescue kids’ brains and stop the mad doctor with a few twists along the way.

The first thing to point out is that this is one of the funniest games I’ve played in a long time. From a level built around an extended Godzilla parody to a boss fight with an Ultraman mockery who shouts out literally what he’s doing before attacking to ridiculous luchadors to all sorts of crazies walled away in an asylum, the humor is highly diverse, ensuring that it could appeal to a wide range of people.

Even if all the game had going for it was the comedy, it would still be a great game. Fortunately though, the game also features some masterful level design with some incredibly epic (and sometimes frustratingly difficult) platforming. From the multi-layered, multi-scaled stages mixed with strategic board game of the Napoleon level to the gnarled, twisted platforming of the upper floors of the asylum to the crazy meat circus as you near the finale, the game never grows stale and always leaves you wondering what crazy imaginative world will come next.

If you haven’t guessed by now, I whole-heartedly recommend this criminally underplayed game unless of course you hate yourself. And if that’s the case, then you should probably go play Cabela’s Big Game Hunter.


Lego Rock Band (Xbox 360)

It seems like every time I’ve brought up Lego Rock Band people get confused. Why would they make a Rock Band game with Legos? Is it just the same Rock Band with Legos?

To answer the first question, they did to reach a more kid/family-friendly audience. Who doesn’t like Legos, right? Along with the cute and wacky Legos characters and storyline they’ve put in the game, the developers have also put together a family-friendly setlist to accompany it (for the most part…I’ll discuss this later).

To address the second question, it’s still basically Rock Band. Have they added any new or interesting features? Yes, in a couple of different ways. Some have been added to make the game a little more kid-friendly (are you seeing a theme yet?) and some have been added to flesh out the story mode a little more to bring out the humor that we’ve come to expect from a Lego game. One key thing they’ve changed to make this more family-oriented is that when you fail in a song, the song doesn’t stop. You just lose some points and keep going from where you failed. They’ve also added a Very Easy difficulty that basically has so few notes that it was thrown in to cater to very small children who just like to hold instruments and do whatever they want on them without worrying about creating havoc for the other players. To flesh out the story mode, they’ve added challenges that feature such ridiculous scenarios as requiring your band to rock so hard they demolish a building that the construction crew was having difficulty with or thawing out a ship that had been frozen over in the arctic, not to mention the whole alien finale. It’s also great to see some of the bands in the setlist represented as Lego characters like Queen, David Bowie, Iggy Pop and the mighty Spinal Tap.

Speaking of the aforementioned bands, and I had alluded to this earlier, is the questionable nature of the setlist for families. Why songs like Iggy Pop’s The Passenger or Spinal Tap’s Short & Sweet were included are beyond me. Do children listen to Iggy Pop? Maybe they associate him with the guy from Snow Day. Who knows? Then there are things like Ride A White Swan by T. Rex and Make Me Smile by Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel that I have to wonder if anyone will recognize. It seems like they are trying to please both the families and the Rock Band die-hards and I’m afraid they may end up losing some of both. I also had an unrelated qualm with the number of songs in this game comparing to previous Rock Band games. The setlist is about half of what it is normally. On the positive side of things, there are some great songs that families will love to play over and over again such as Ghostbusters and Kung Fu Fighting. One other question might be running through your head if you’re a long-term Rock Band fan. Will previous download content work with this game? The answer is sometimes. Harmonix has gone through all the previous download content and flagged it as family friendly if appropriate to Lego Rock Band. Sometimes the decision is questionable (Smash It Up by The Damned is family friendly?), but overall it makes sense why they would do this. Lego Rock Band is for the kids and Rock Band 2 is for the grownups.

You may have noticed I haven’t really discussed the core mechanics of the game much. This is because it plays exactly the same as previous Rock Band/Guitar Hero games and if you don’t know how those work, then you probably don’t have a video game console anyway because you live in a hole two miles below the surface of the earth.

Overall, it’s a little hard to determine whether I can completely recommend this game. But given its family friendly nature and enough songs to appeal to the core Rock Band fan with the ability to export them to your hard drive, I think I could safely suggest trying it out, particularly if the price point drops further.

Guitar Hero: Van Halen (Xbox 360)

Neversoft and co. have never shied away from spin-off games in the Guitar Hero series. With entire games for Aerosmith and Metallica as well as games such as Smash Hits and Band Hero that utilize the same formula, it becomes difficult to keep track of all the Guitar Hero games being churned out on what seems like a bi-monthly basis. So what sets GH:VH apart from other titles in the series other than just having a lot of Van Halen songs? Unfortunately not much. The formula is the same and they’ve even seemed to take a step back from GH: Metallica. Rather than having a fully fleshed out story mode like the previous game, in GH:VH you just get a list of songs to play with the actual Van Halen songs being portrayed in a live concert.

Front and center in this game is the massive ego of Eddie Van Halen. The opening cut scene even features Eddie coming out on stage and playing the song-length guitar solo Eruption as a spotlight focuses exclusively on him. This sets the tone of the game right from the start. As perhaps a peace offering to David Lee Roth, the game features no songs from any other singers. No Hagar. No Cherone (not to say were clamoring for him… sorry Gary but you just suck). Given than Van Hagar had a couple of pretty big hits, especially Right Now, I think a lot of people will call foul on this. An additional thing to note is that the other artists in the game, hand-picked by Van Halen apparently, seem at first to be highly at odds with the actual Van Halen music (Blink 182? Yellowcard?). But then it dawns on you. None of the hand-picked songs are anywhere close to as technically proficient on guitar as Eddie. The songs were basically picked to further feed Eddie’s ego.

So are the songs themselves fun to play? If you are a guitarist, then you will be in heaven on the actual Van Halen songs and be bored with most of the others. If you play bass or drums, you will probably start seeing a lot of the same patterns repeated throughout the songs. It’s telling that some of the hardest drum songs in the game aren’t Van Halen’s except “Hot For Teacher” (which is just as crazy here as it was in GH: World Tour) and a couple of others. The vocals are David Lee Roth. You will know immediately if this is your cup of tea, so I won’t spend any time on it.

Overall, this feels like much more of a slapped together effort than the previous Guitar Hero: Metallica with limited input from the band other than picking the song list. If you are a guitarist and want a fiendish challenge, this might be worth picking up especially if it gets cheaper or if you took advantage of the offer to get it free with the purchase of Guitar Hero 5 when it first came out. Otherwise, you may want to steer clear.


Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (GameCube)

Reboots of old series can be a tricky beast. Sometimes they succeed such as in the case of Metroid: Prime and others fail miserably like Golden Axe and Rygar. The best reboots take what made the original unique and fun to place and incorporates those traits into a complete makeover that breaks new ground of its own. Prince of Persia: SOT is such a game. The original PoP implemented a finely crafted, challenging and deliberately paced platform puzzle game which influenced other games such as Out of this World and Blackthorne. There are quite a few cell phone games using the same basic mechanic as well.

So what could a reboot of Prince of Persia bring to the table? Naturally it would be 3D rather than 2D like the original with excellent graphics for this generation. But many 3D games have attempted to capture the spirit of 2D games and fallen flat. What could SoT do to keep the spirit of the original while remaining an engaging and original game in its own right? Fluidity is a key part of this successful re-imagining. The original game was praised for the fluid movement of the prince and how gracefully he leapt through all manner of traps and pits. SoT does it one better. The platforming elements are incredibly fluid and feel almost effortless for how impressive the movements are. But that same fluidity has also been worked into the combat sequences. Using graceful, sweeping attacks that involve flipping, leaping off walls and gallantly slashing, the combat in SoT is a sight to behold as well as play. You will find yourself looking forward to the combat sequences just to see the prince in action.

So ok, the fluid movement looks cool and the controls respond well. What else? Honestly the game could have done this and probably still succeeded in what it set to out to accomplish. But rather than be content with a few really cool ideas, the developers also included a great new feature implemented exceedingly well: the ability to rewind time using the titular Sands of Time. By activating the sand, it allows you to rewind time a few seconds to before you made perhaps a misconceived leap or failed to block a blow from an enemy properly. Does this make the game too easy? I don’t think so. I felt the game had an excellent blend of challenge versus fun. I rarely found myself getting really frustrated with the game, but I also never got bored.

I haven’t really mentioned the storyline much because honestly it isn’t terribly substantial. It involves a bad guy trying to get his hands on the sands of time and an imperiled princess. But the story isn’t really the star here. I think people who like platforming and third person action games will love this game, particularly if they are the sort who likes platform-based action games but finds a lot of the actual platforming to be tedious or frustratingly difficult. I give this game a hearty recommendation to anyone that enjoys the sheer act of playing a video game. As a final word of warning though, I haven’t played the following PoP games, but I’ve read that the difficulty in them increases significantly. So be aware of that.


Mike Tyson’s Punch Out (NES)

You know what’s awesome? Punching people in the face. This is the first video game I recall playing that truly captured the satisfaction of punching someone in the face. Originally an arcade game and expertly ported to the NES, Mike Tyson’s Punch Out, and later Punch Out after Tyson got all bite-y, was packed full of wacky characters with incredibly satisfying and addictive gameplay.

In many respects Punch Out is less a boxing simulator and more an early rhythm game. The actual strategy of boxing mattered very little in Punch Out beyond using uppercuts and gut shots appropriately. Rather, the game focused more on memorizing patterns and reacting quickly and precisely to the enemies’ attacks. Watching someone stabbing buttons on the controller in Punch Out is not unlike watching the furious feet of a hardcore Dance Dance Revolution addict in the midst of some throbbing techno beat.

Another thing to note is that Little Mac was reduced in size from the arcade version due to the technical limitations of the NES, but it ended up working in the favor of the game. Watching Little Mac take on these massive boxers twice his size made the victories all the more satisfying whether it be the flamboyant Don Flamenco, the grossly obese King Hippo or the belligerently burly Bald Bull.

Is there even a question as to whether I would recommend this game? Of course not. It’s one of the most solidly entertaining games for the 8-bit generation, or any other generation for that matter. Play it and enjoy.

SNK vs Capcom: Match of the Millenium (NGPC)

Ever heard of the Neo Geo Pocket Color? Are you a fighting game fan? If the answer to those two questions is No then Yes, then you sir or madam have done a grave disservice to yourself. The NGPC not only had one of the most solid lineups of fighting games for any console, greatly in part due to SNK’s direct involvement in the launch of the handheld, but it also featured quite possibly the best D-pad I have ever used, designed specifically to be used in fighting games. The biggest negative to the system in my eyes was the lack of back-lighting, which given its competition with the GBA and little marketing muscle behind it ensured a quick demise.

So I talked about the handheld a little. How about the games? Well, due to the lack of success for the handheld the library is not huge, but if you were to look at the % of quality games released, this little guy would be near the top. And SNK vs. Capcom: MotM is probably the best fighting game for the system, which is pretty high praise considering the sheer number of good to great fighting games released for it.

Like its home console brethren, SvC:MotM features a solid and diverse lineup of characters from all manner of SNK and Capcom fighting games. Despite having to scale back on the graphics for a handheld, presenting the fighters as sort of chibi figures, the graphics are crisp and clear with a solid frame rate and no slowdown that I ever noticed. And as any fighting game fan knows, these are critical components of a well-balanced fighter, balance being a key word here. This is I feel one of the most balanced fighters I’ve played in a long time with each character having distinct strengths and weaknesses that never seem too exploitive. At no point did I use a fighter that I felt was significantly more powerful than the others.

In closing, I suggest that you immediately hit up your favorite online auction site and snatch up a Neo Geo Pocket Color and as many fighting games as you can, especially this one.


Clash at Demonhead (NES)

Ah, the days of the NES… The days when even a mediocre platformer could stand out amongst the wretched dreck populating the system in its hayday, which brings us to Clash at Demonhead. Point #1 working in its favor is that it begins with an overhead map akin to that of Mario 3 or Bionic Commando with multiple branching paths in places that allow you to choose the direction you wish to play. Once selecting a level, it changes to your typical side-scrolling platformer. The game also features upgrade-able weapons, not too common in this era. Point #2 in its favor is the responsive controls. In an era where many platformers featured imprecise, slippery or unresponsive controls, CaD manages to create controls that feel natural and intuitive.

Point #1 against it is that the graphics are rather bland. The game lacks a lot of the detail of the great platformers of the NES such as the Mario series, Kirby’s Adventure and the like. Point #2 against it is that the actual platform levels tend to be rather repetitive and not particularly inventive in any way. The enemies likewise are somewhat uninspired as well.

So it sounds like it about breaks even, right? Like I alluded to at the beginning, here’s a classic example of a mediocre platformer that does just enough to set it apart from the throngs of terrible games inundating the NES. Whether or not it’s worth playing is entirely up to how much you enjoy platformers. I say, why not? It could be worse.


James Bond Jr. (SNES)

Does anyone remember this cartoon/merchandising blitz from the early 90’s? No? I can’t say I’m surprised. It featured basically the “nephew” of the exotic super agent 007 (I personally suspect him of being a bastard child from one of Bond’s hundreds of conquests… I mean, why the Jr.?) setting out to thwart the evil organization S.C.U.M. in their various nefarious plots.

Of course, this is completely irrelevant to the SNES game of the same name as it gives you even less plot to go off of than the TV series did. The first level consists of mediocre platforming, delivering bland gameplay even for a licensed title on the SNES. Then for some random reason, it switches to a side-scrolling shooter where you pilot a helicopter shooting down planes and bombing tanks. I don’t recall Jr. bombing tanks in the cartoon… This section is somewhat enjoyable at first but quickly becomes tedious as it goes on for far too long.

I don’t want to penalize a game for trying to mix things up and implement different sorts of gameplay, but when all of them are done poorly, that’s when I take umbrage. I think there might be a 3D driving section also, but honestly I got so bored I stopped playing after the helicopter level. I say, just don’t bother.


Ninja Warriors (SNES)

Most little known games for the SNES are rightly left forgotten. Donald Trump could build a tower with the cartridges of terrible games for this system. But sometimes, we come across a hidden gem, an unheralded game with fun gameplay and great graphics that somehow slipped through the cracks and never achieved the success it deserved. Ninja Warriors is such a game. With the actual cartridges now relegated to rare status, fetching pretty high prices on eBay, most will discover this game through the use of emulators. I was lucky enough to snag an original copy in a pawn shop, but regardless of where you get this game, I guarantee you will have a good time with it.

Ninja Warriors is a beat-em-up similar in gameplay to Final Fight and the like but in 2D rather than having a slightly isometric perspective. Where it excels is in its tight controls, richly textured graphics, and fun beat-em-up action. You can choose from three different fighters, each with different abilities to aid you in your fight. One thing this game does right over many other games of its ilk is in variety. You are always coming across new locations and enemies to traverse and fight respectively. No longer do you have to deal with killing the same drably dressed street thug over and over again with a slightly different name.

The plot? One of the most awesome things I’ve ever heard. Here’s a synopsis coutesy of Wikipedia detailing the plot of the arcade original from which this is based:

The game is based in a dystopian future where the Bangler, the President of the United States in 1993, issues martial law on the nation, with the military having total control over the law - but not the ninjas. A group of anarchist scientists decide that it is time to revolt against the government. Knowing full well that approaching the military themselves could be considered an all out suicide mission, the scientists create two prototype cybernetic ninjas that can sustain various forms of damage in order to do the mission for them. These ninjas, code named "Ninja" and "Kunoichi", are sent by the scientists in order to assail Bangler and end his tyranny once and for all.

I have no real negative comments for this game. You need to play it. C’mon, man… Ninjas… I promise it’s better than Wrath of the Black Manta.

Zack & Wiki Review

It seems like the old school graphic adventure is making a small comeback. With old LucasArts franchises like Monkey Island and Sam & Max being updated for a new generation and games like Phoenix Wright doing well for the DS, things are looking pretty good for adventure game fans. For every Professor Layton that performs well enough to warrant sequels is a Zack & Wiki, a game that was critically acclaimed but that people just did not buy. It’s unfortunate because although it is not without its faults, I feel Zack & Wiki is a solidly entertaining point & click adventure game with some of the most fiendish puzzles I’ve seen in quite some time.

The plot is pretty inconsequential, involving a ghost pirate that requests that you scour various worlds for his body parts so he can reward you with his awesome pirate ship. The visual design of the game is very animé-influenced with a very kiddy-oriented appearance. This is highly deceptive given the very high difficulty of the game as it progresses closer to the end. I would also like to point out that the monkey, Wiki, was highly irritating. But what’s an animé without an annoying creature to torment the main character?

The puzzles in general are very clever and require a lot of lateral thinking skills. Some, particularly toward the end, can get very frustrating due to what I refer to Sierra Adventure Syndrome, the practice of a game forcing you to restart to a much earlier point in the game due to a random object you didn’t collect that you need much later in the game. With Zack & Wiki being divided into different worlds with each puzzle area being self-contained, it isn’t quite as bad as having to restart the game. But some levels are very long and missing a crucial switch or item can lead to replaying through thirty minutes of game over and over again to get it right through trial and error. This sort of situation doesn’t become a real nuisance until fairly late in the game when the time to play through the levels grows to 45 minutes or longer. Also, this game more than many requires a LOT of trial and error to getting some of the puzzles since there are hidden traps and murderous enemies scattered about randomly.

I think a key issue with the game though is the control scheme. Wii Waggle is ok in moderation if it isn’t broken, but when a game such as this one is highly dependent on the motion controls and they just plain don’t work, particularly in timed puzzles, it can be very irritating. And this game does indeed have its fair share of unnecessarily irritating moments due to bad controls. But I don’t feel they are frequent enough to not recommend the game.

Overall, I think Capcom has done a fine job of creating a fun and challenging puzzle adventure albeit one with questionable controls. Adventure game fans take note.

The Good Ol' Days...

So nearly 5 years ago, I had a movie journal that I kept where I essentially wrote little mini-reviews or impressions about whatever I had just watched.  It was a kind of private blog stored in a word doc.  I recently uncovered it and thought 'hey, why not throw it on here?  People like to pry into private writings on the internet!'  So I'll be throwing on sections of it periodically until I either reach the end or lose interest.

So here's about half of September for those with any interest.  Feel free to post comments if you have any interest to see more.  In particular, I kinda would like to post the section where I essentially took on the challenge of watching a horror movie for every day of October in the spirit of Halloween.  If anyone cares enough, I'll post it after September.

9/6/04

 

Collateral

I’m not incredibly familiar with Michael Mann’s work.  I have seen Manhunter, and thought it was decided unsuspenseful for a suspense thriller about a serial killer.  Perhaps because it was primarily shot in daylight, it never worked for me.  Collateral on the other hand, is almost entirely filmed at night, and it works very well.  First of all, I want to mention how surprised I was by Jamie Foxx’s acting.  Before this, he usually just played morons or playas.  He actually felt like a real person in this one.  Even Tom Cruise isn’t as grating as he once was.  Perhaps his worst days are behind him.  The movie had a strong sense of atmosphere, like a quiet cool with intense violence simmering just beneath the surface.  The scene in the jazz club is a great example of this.

 

Stepford Wives

This was an entertaining way to spend an hour and a half.  Frank Oz, the director, has decided to play this one for laughs instead of attempting to drum up any kind of suspense as the book and the first film did.  I’m pretty certain this choice was made based on the fact that the ending was hardly a surprise to most people by this point.  The very term ‘Stepford wife’ has a very specific meaning for most people and the phrase has literally entered the general lexicon.  Basically, I was prepared for a few good laughs and some modest entertainment, and that’s exact what I got.  It did throw in a good batch of social commentary to make the film more relevant, but the signals became a little mixed (so is being a high-powered, stressed out female a good or bad thing?).  The only other problem I had was the gaping plot hole the film provided.  It couldn’t seem to decide whether the Stepford wives were robots or just brainwashed via microchips in their brains.

 

‘It’

I picked this up in a sale, completely as a blind buy since I knew little to nothing about Clara Bow other than she was a film star in the silent era.  After watching ‘It’, it’s very apparent why she was a star.  She had a nature charisma that carried the film.  The plot of the film was a fairly common one by today’s standards (girl pretends to like one guy so she can get close to his friend), but in its day, ‘It’ was a fairly revelatory film.  Clara Bow actively sought and manipulated men with a sex appeal that no one had seen in a film star at that point.  The best thing that can be said about a silent film is that when you watch it, you forget that its silent and you know only that you are watching a movie.  That’s precisely how I felt with ‘It’.  At a brisk 75 minutes, the action and charm flies by at a breakneck pace.  By the end, you feel a general happiness for no apparent reason.  That’s right; it’s a “feel-good” movie.  And I enjoyed it.

 

9/7/04

 

Touching the Void

I was pretty certain I never wanted to go mountain climbing.  This movie only cements that fact further.  It was a very fascinating film about survival.  It did seem less suspenseful since the people being represented in the narrative were obviously healthy and safely telling the story themselves.  You knew how it was going to end.  Nonetheless, it was still a very intriguing journey.  I just have to wonder at the sheer determination it took for Joe to keep going on.  I also thought it was bizarre toward the end when the film took on a more drug-induced air with jump cuts, odd camera angles and all sorts of other camera trickery.  The effect of the song getting stuck in his head was particularly singular in how odd it was.

 

9/8/04

 

The Prowler

I found this to be a very workman-like, competent effort into the slasher genre with some very good gore effects courtesy of Tom Savini.  Little touches like the opening with the newsreel and letter in black and white struck and giving it a little more appeal than most generic slasher films like The Burning.  Another thing I liked about it was the identity of the killer and the way it didn’t really explain to the characters his motivation for doing it.  Most of these sorts of films feel an obligation to throw in some aggrandizing speech wherein the villain explains the mental anguish he had gone through and why he must kill.  This one doesn’t.  I just wonder if this was a conscious decision on the part of the filmmakers or if they were just too lazy to throw in such a scene.

 

9/9/04

 

Comic Book Confidential

This was an interesting and entertaining documentary on comic books.  I would by no means recommend it as an all-encompassing history of comic books, (mainstream comics are all but abandoned by the 60’s portion) but it is an immensely enjoyable film.  It essentially splits the film into two sections.  The first half of the movie is involved primarily with an early history of comics, mainstream companies like DC and Marvel, and the eventual creation of the comic code in the wake of William Gaines deliciously demented EC Comics line.  The second half of the film is mostly concerned with the evolution of independent comics, giving ample screen time to figures such as R. Crumb and Harvey Pekar.  The end tries half heartedly to mention the darkening of mainstream comics with titles like The Dark Knight Returns, but it seems more tacked on than anything.  It may be just a result of the fact that the film was released in 1989, so the new dark, gritty movement was just getting going.  The best thing I liked about this film was the way in which they semi-animated the comics into sort of slideshows, adding sound effects and having the artists read them.  I thought it was a great way to bring the comics into film without full blown animation that may have possibly created an awkward experience.

 

9/10/04

 

Bubba Ho-Tep

I saw this when it came to the Galleria 10 theater in Birmingham.  I knew it was going to be something special the moment I heard about it.  The guy who did Phantasm gets the guy who was Ash to play Elvis, who isn’t really dead but in a nursing home because he switched places with an impersonator back in the day, and the old black guy who always plays old black guys to play JFK, or at least someone believing he is JFK who has been dyed black and has had his brain removed but kept alive in a government compound in Washington and replaced with a bag of sand?  Then they proceed to fight against an ancient Egyptian mummy who happened to stumble across some cowboy gear somewhere and who lives off the souls of the elderly by sucking them out their anuses?  And it also has a great soundtrack?  Sign me up cuz this flick was one of the best of the year.

 

Hotel Room

Originally conceived as the pilot of a new television series for David Lynch, the networks didn’t like what they saw, so the three episodes filmed were compiled into one movie in an anthology format.  The first and last vignettes were both directed by David Lynch and are definitely less mundane than the middle vignette.  The first story concerning Harry Dean Stanton, a prostitute, and an old, fat guy named Lou is probably the most entertaining of the bunch.  It features just the right amount of Lynchian weirdness that his fans have come to expect without going on too long.  The third vignette, with Crispin Glover as a husband and Alicia Witt as a wife making conversation while in a blackout, is at times very bizarre as well due to the wife’s mental illness caused by the death of her son, but it seems to suffer from being too long-winded for its own good.  This one goes on for nearly an hour and at times you really start to feel each minute tick by due to the fact that it really is almost entirely just one conversation between two individuals.  The second vignette was modestly entertaining and involves a woman discussing with her two friends about how she plans to dump her boyfriend, played by Griffin Dunne, because of his lack of commitment and his philandering ways.  But she is caught off guard when he arrives early and dumps her before she can dump him.  Naturally it ends in violence.  One final odd touch I thought I would mention is the fact that each vignette takes place in a different time period in the same room, 603, but the bellboy and maid are played by the same actor and actress in all three.  It really helps to add to the ageless feel of the hotel. 

 

Ikaruga (GCN) Review

How can something be so beautiful yet so mind-numbingly difficult at the same time? I absolutely love space shooters, particularly of the overhead vertical scrolling variety. Yet I am constantly tormented by the fact that I am just not very good at them. And when it comes to something like Ikaruga with it’s insane challenge yet hypnotically awesome gameplay and graphics, I feel even more hopelessly doomed to play something that I love yet know I will never beat, despite the fact that there are only 5 levels.

I honestly don’t know what the plot is for this. I could look it up, but it really doesn’t matter. What truly matters is the hitch. What is it about this game that sets it apart from the hundreds of other space shooters besides just looking pretty? It’s fairly basic actually. The core mechanic of the game revolves around the juxtaposition of light and dark. Your ship has a polarizing shield around it at all times with either a dark or light polarity. Your weapons are the same. You have the ability to switch between polarities at any time to adapt to the environment around you. Light enemies suffer much more damage from dark gun fire than light and vice versa. Conversely, your shield, if set to light polarity, can block out light enemy fire and vice versa. So depending on the sort of enemy attacking you, you must make lightning fast decisions on switching your shields back and forth. And as the game progresses, I can assure you that you will be doing this pretty much constantly. You also use strategy to determine if you should set it to opposite polarity from enemy and hope to dodge them effectively or set it to the same polarity and do less damage but avoid being wasted by their wall of fire. Like many space shoot ‘em ups, there is little to no margin for error even in the earliest stages. Precision and memorization are key to this game even more than most shooters, and this coupled with its tricky game mechanic is what gives it the distinction of being one of the most difficult in the genre.

The game does include a Trial Mode to practice with, giving you unlimited lives but only allowing you to play through the first two missions. Since this game is made by Treasure, considered by many to be their crowning achievement, the boss fights are incredibly huge and epic. The bosses generally take up the entire screen and are multi-staged, meaning that when you take out the ten gun turrets firing at you from this massive airship, you still aren’t even close to beating this guy.

I mentioned the graphics earlier and how great they were. What impressed me is that with everything being light or dark, the graphics could have easily come out rather bland and unimpressive due to the lack of color palette, but instead the game is given a vibrancy and crispness to it that has few rivals in the realm of shooters.

Overall the game is very impressive. If you are a fan of space shoot ‘em ups and especially vertical scrollers, then you are most likely used to the ridiculous difficulty inherent in these types of games and need to own this game as a result. If you are a more timid folk that prefers the joviality and complete lack of challenge in, say, Animal Crossing, then Ikaruga should be at the absolute bottom of your video game shopping list with the likes of Battletoads and Gradius III. As for me, I shall weep tears of joy and gnash my teeth in frustration as I relish in the crazy yet addictive gameplay offered up by Ikaruga.

Jam Sessions (DS) Review

Have you ever looked at a DS and thought, “Gee, I wish I could play a guitar using this as my means by which to do so.” If so, then you have strangely grammatically correct thoughts. Beyond that, you also have an odd way of looking at a DS. Most likely to capitalize off the success of Guitar Hero, Ubisoft decided to port over from Japan this guitar simulation tool for the DS long before the crappy beast known as Guitar Hero: On Tour reared its ugly head. Of course, comparing this to Guitar Hero at all is a pretty unfair comparison since GH is essentially a rhythm game disguised as a musical tool, and Jam Sessions is a musical tool disguised as a rhythm game.

Jam Sessions has no real competitive game mode to speak of. It essentially gives you a couple of different modes to allow you to play with the core game mechanic, that being the ability to strum the DS touch pad like a guitar using the stylus as your pick and the DS buttons as a way to play different chords. If that sounds a little on the awkward side, you would be correct. Not as awkward as that attachment with the GH DS game though. That thing is just painful. The game comes pre-loaded with a couple dozen songs that you can play along to. Again though, you don’t really earn anything for performing them particularly well. You can unlock useless stuff like new backgrounds by playing through the songs in the main game mode, or you can hit up the Free Play and record and save compositions that you write yourself. Using the headphone jack of the DS, you can also hook up to an amp and rock out in true fashion. I think I might crap my pants though if I were to go to a concert only to find a dude strumming a DS up on stage.

For what it is, it’s actually pretty neat although it really doesn’t have very high replayability unless you are the sort that actually does want to jam out on a DS professionally. As far as being a cool little toy to pull out and play with for fifteen minutes every now and again, it does the job well.